Courage and Honesty
by ToxinAngel969
Summary: The two traits coincide. Although Courage seems a lot less brave than he actually is, and Honesty sets herself out to be the opposite of truth, together they make quite a team. Peas in a pod, really. There's never been so strong a bond than between this troublesome but honest teenager and this cowardly yet courageous dog.


_COURAGE AND HONESTY_

_The two traits coincide. Although Courage seems a lot less brave than he actually is, and Honesty sets herself out to be the opposite of truth, together they make quite a team. Peas in a pod, really. There's never been so strong a bond than between this troublesome but honest teenager and this cowardly yet courageous dog._

_Note: Merry friggin Christmas, Fanfiction . net. I'm sorry I didn't give you this present earlier. Do you know what you're present is? Another demented and grief infested fanfic from yours truly. ;) I already have like seven other fan fictions going on, sooo…yeah. This is just gonna chill._

_Enjoy. :D Rated T for a whole lot of action, depression, mild language, some violence and suggestive humor._

_(Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is written out of pure boredom. :)_

* * *

When Muriel told Courage that her grandniece, Honesty, would be coming to stay with them for a while, it didn't occur to him that she meant this in a very literal sense. He actually thought that she was just using one of those hard-to-interpret metaphorical expressions that most elders often used to indirectly scold someone for being rude or inconsiderate. After all, she did say it when Eustace was trying to convince her that he wasn't the one sneaking into the slices of cake after they'd all gone to bed at night.

"It wasn't me! It was probably that _stupid_ dog!" Eustace angrily exclaimed, furiously gesturing towards the pink pooch that was struggling to sleep on Muriel's lap with a newspaper. Despite the fact that Courage would most likely die if he so much as ate a bite of that thick chocolate cake, he persistently carried on. "I'm tellin' ya, he waits for us to fall asleep and eats all the food! I get blamed for everything in this house, honestly!"

Muriel's face lit up in realization upon hearing that one word. "Oh yes, that reminds me!" she spoke with her thick Scottish (Irish? :| ) accent, a heartwarming excitement overcoming her features. "Eustace, Courage. You'll be glad to know that Honesty will be arriving any time now."

Eustace groaned and threw his hands up in the air with a pouty face. "But I'm not lying!"

"I'm talking about a person, Eustace." His wife replied steadily, stroking Courage's soft fur soothingly. "Honesty. Honesty Beurson-Bagge. You do recall her from our little chat a few nights ago, I hope."

An inquisitive expression overtook his features, quickly followed up by impatience and annoyance. "What? Who?"

"Our grandniece, Eustace." she spoke a little less calmly.

"Grandwhat?"

"Ugh! My brother's granddaughter!" Muriel spat, clearly frustrated at her husbands disability to recall their family members. "She's coming here all the way from California to spend some time with us after the incident, Eustace, I thought we discussed this already!"

Having lost interest in her scolding towards the beginning of her sentence, Eustace resumed reading his newspaper, mumbling a quiet "yeah, yeah, whatever" under his breath before redirecting his attention to the article he left off of.

Muriel pet Courage between the ears and directed her words towards him. "Oh, aren't you excited Courage? She's a nice girl, quiet and calm, much like yourself! I think you'll take a liking to her."

Truth be told, Courage didn't actually think that Eustace and Muriel had any other living relatives aside from Eustace's stingy mother and Muriel's freaky nephew, as well as others who might have visited the house that he desperately (and obviously, successfully) tried to forget. Courage whimpered uneasily. "If she's like all the others," he said to himself. "I'm not so sure I will,"

* * *

Thank goodness she wasn't, he told himself as the old couple opened the door to welcome her.

She looked nothing like the two elders he lived with; then again, neither did Fred, but she didn't look to be a freakishly creepy barber, so he couldn't complain. Her thick hair, just a little shorter than shoulder length, was the darkest shade of black possible, and stood up a little bit here and there. Immediately, Courage knew that Eustace would regard to her as Bedhead or something rude of the sort. A small part of him wondered if he would refer to her as "stupid" or "freaky" as well, but because of Muriel's attitude towards her, he highly doubted that he would risk it. She had long lanky limbs, ones that reminded Courage all too well of a certain skinny Kat that often caused them a lot of trouble in the past. She had with her one suitcase, and upon her face was a naturally sullen frown. Beneath her bright blue eyes were dark bags, and her voice wasn't the least bit optimistic as she spoke.

"Hi, great uncle E." Honesty muttered with a small gesture towards the old man, her effort portraying just how utterly unenthused she was.

A look of grumpiness and discontent clouded his obvious irritation. "Hmph. I don't know you."

She tried her hardest to wipe away the deadpan expression upon her face as she responded. "Yeah, yeah you do. I'm Chrysanthemum's daughter. Honesty?"

"Wha? Who criss-crossed the mom? What are you goin' off about?"

"_Chrysanthemum_. Like the flower. That's her name."

"Who's name?"

_Oh, you've got to be kidding me, _Honesty thought to herself. She shook her head slightly as Muriel spoke up.

"For heaven's sake, Anthony's daughter, Eustace. How many times must I repeat myself?"

"Ah, now you're just confusin me! I haven't seen Anthony since that one stupid Christmas party. And he never mentioned he had a daughter, and now you're telling me she's our granddaughter!"

"Our grand_niece_."

"Bargh!" ultimately giving up, he tossed his arms up in confusion. "Blast all these complicated family ties…" he crossed his arms stubbornly as he slowly walked back into the house. "Brothers' sisters' mothers' fathers', bah!"

Muriel turned to Honesty with an apologetic expression. "You'll have to forgive your great uncle, Honesty. I'm afraid his memory isn't as keen as it once was. My side of the family seems to slip his mind entirely at times."

"Hey!" Eustace intervened from the sofa, unintentionally eavesdropping on the conversation and overhearing what was said. "I never forget anything! I have the memory of an elephant!" he paused and looked around his sofa. Now where'd that remote go?"

The kind plump woman gestured to the dog standing beside her. "This is Courage. We've had him ever since he was a pup. I think you two will get along together just fine."

Very carefully, as if her knees might snap, Honesty knelt down and gently petted Courage. That hopelessly forlorn look on her face lit up just a pinch. "Hey there, Courage."

Muriel smiled happily at the fact that Honesty liked him, and scooped him up in her arms before walking through the doorway. "Well, come inside then! I'll show you around the house. Courage, would you be a dear and help Eustace find the television remote?"

"I don't need help from a dog!" Eustace spat, Muriel ushering Honesty up the stairs and telling her to set her stuff down in the room first. With a scowl, Eustace crossed his arms. "I most certainly don't need to be running a bed & breakfast for rotten teenagers off the street-"

"Now that's enough of that!"

Muriel reappeared before the stairway steps, looking to have been there the whole time, which she probably was after sending Honesty up to her room. She stomped toward her husband and harshly spat under her breath. "Honesty is your grandniece, Eustace! And she's been through more than enough as it is! Remember our discussion."

After a few moments, Muriel noticed the questioning look that Courage was giving her, and shook her head sadly. "Oh, she hasn't been feeling too great after the accident, Courage. Be nice to her, okay?"

He nodded vigorously, all the while asking himself, _Accident?_

* * *

_I will be continuing this mini series regardless of views and/or reviews, but they help keep updates more frequent. Some requests are accepted, I try to make it not too stray from the whole gist of the story. Thanks for reading. A fave and a watch would make my day._


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